Economy Post Tomorrow But I have Frugal Tips

I will be posting tomorrow about my take on the economy and the upcoming year and what I plan to do to prepare for the future. The post is taking a little bit longer than I had planned and of course, if I wouldn't have fallen asleep on the couch last night I would have had it done. Let's just say that the drought, the slowing economy, what is going on in Europe and on Wall Street, along with the debt ceiling discussion will be affecting all of us. But - that will be for tomorrow. As for today, I have a few tips.

I have been working on laundry tips for a while. Laundry is one of those areas of the household where you can drop a lot of money if you aren't careful. I have made my own laundry soap with the Fels Naptha recipe, trying both the liquid and powdered version. This recipe is okay and I use it when I don't have anything else on hand. Over the last few months I have leaned towards mixing high quality detergent (found on sale with a coupon) with cheap generic laundry detergent. I started doing this when a local grocery store had their generic detergent on sale for 80 cents for a 32 load size jug. I bought 25 jugs and I mixed 1/3 good quality detergent (Era, Oxydol, Purex) with 2/3 generic detergent. I have been very happy with the outcome.

Today I decided to experiment with a concoction used to get the yellow underarm stains out of white clothes. I mixed 2 parts hydrogen peroxide with 1 part of original blue Dawn dish detergent. Then I poured this on the stains and scrubbed it with a tooth brush, let it set for 5 minutes and tossed the white tops into the washer to which I added bleach and detergent. The result: the majority of the yellowing was gone. There was a tad bit remaining, but not much. I should add that these were tops that I have had for a few years.

I now have 6 "revitalized" white tops that look great again and I am very, very happy with the outcome. Dawn dish detergent is a staple in my cleaning cupboard.

I have 3 white tank tops that I wear under all sorts of clothing. One of them had 2 little stains at the top that appeared to be coffee stains that I missed pre-treating so they remained after the top was washed and dried.

Today I took that tank top and washed it with a load of whites. I didn't dry it. I took some leftover coffee and poured it into a bowl and soaked the damp tank top in it. I let it soak for about 30 minutes and hung it on the clothesline to dry. After it was dry I washed it with a load of tan pants. When it came out of the dryer I was very, very happy with my new light tan tank top.  It is a perfect color to go with many outfits. I was stoked, if you can get stoked about soaking clothes in coffee.

Now on to makeup. You can spend a ton of money on makeup if you're not careful. I purchase good quality foundation, tinted moisturizer and mineral powder. I can skimp on cheaper blush and eye shadow but I make sure that I have good quality eye liner, mascara and concealer. Here is what my makeup routine is like.

On the days that I am home, I tend to wear little or no makeup. I usually wear tinted moisturizer as a foundation, a little blush and a little mascara. This is enough for those days when I don't need a lot of makeup but I still want to look nice. By going light on these days I make my makeup last longer.

On the days that I wear "full" makeup, I wear my foundation, concealer and some mineral powder along with eye shadow, liner, mascara and blush. I also apply a little lipstick.

I have found that cheap blush and eye shadow work fine for me and can be purchased at the Dollar store. For me having a few shades of shadow and two shades of blush gives me the look that I need. I don't need boxes and boxes of makeup with 100 shades of shadows, 10 blushes and more.  At my age (53) I don't need to be experimenting with blue or green eye shadow!!

In the end my makeup can last me for a year (except for the mascara) which is a bargain for me. I would say that I don't spend more than $50 annually on makeup. Also I am very careful that I do not use makeup that has "seen better days." Anything that goes on my face should not be questionable. If in doubt, I throw it out.

These are my tips for the day.  Tomorrow I could be a little "Debbie Downer" when it comes to my post on the economy.